Ditmas Park’s Roger Hodge Is The Oxford American’s New Editor

Ditmas Park neighbor and Texas native Roger Hodge has been appointed editor of The Oxford American, reports the Times.

Though Mr. Hodge, 45, lives in Brooklyn, he has ties to the South. He grew up in Texas, studied comparative literature at Sewanee in Tennessee, and began his career as a freelance writer in North Carolina. While Mr. Hodge has not been a subscriber recently, he said he has been an admirer of The Oxford American since the mid-1990’s.

While the writing in The Oxford American is “consistently good,” Mr. Hodge said, “the thing that I felt was missing was journalism.”

“That’s the thing that I love doing,” he said. “What I can bring to this magazine is experience with long-form pieces, literary journalism that is vital and important to readers.”

Hodge’s resume is pretty impressive. You may know him as the former editor-in-chief at Harper’s, as the author of 2010’s “The Mendacity of Hope: Barack Obama and the Betrayal of American Liberalism” or from the the Observer’s 2008 Brooklyn Literary 100 list.

Congratulations, Roger! Maybe he’ll be celebrating at Ox Cart’s birthday party tonight?

Photo: NY Times